


I Think, Therefore

by Byacolate



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Robot Feels, Robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 00:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9297197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Byacolate/pseuds/Byacolate
Summary: The Unit was not equipped for philosophy.





	

[Query.]

 

Winston looks up at Bastion from his screen, a spoonful of peanut butter idling in its trajectory toward his mouth. Hesitantly, he lowers it back into the jar. “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

 

An idiom; Bastion knows he is not _all ears._

 

[What is love?]

 

Winston blinks. Frowns. Shoves the spoon in his mouth after all. “Love?” he mumbles, scratching his head. “That’s... complicated.”

 

[Specify complication: The question, or the subject.]

 

“Uhh.... both?”

 

[Unit will rephrase.]

 

“Not necessary,” Winston says, hastily waving a paw. He is flustered. This was not Bastion’s intent. “It’s just… I don’t think I have the answers you need. I’m a scientist, not... not a social expert.” He brightens a little at a thought. “I could find you several articles on the subject of the brain chemistry involved.”

 

[Unit will accept.] Bastion’s head tilts. [Thank you.]

 

Winston compiles exactly 17 scientific papers on the neurochemistry of human affection, and Bastion elects not to trouble him further on the subject. Bastion will find answers elsewhere.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“What a wonderful question,” Zenyatta says, clasping his hands in his lap. Waves crash against the rocky cliff face below, the sound is clearly soothing to both Genji and Zenyatta who choose this place for their daily meditation. Bastion is less enthusiastic about the sheer drop into the sea not three meters away. “What is love. How profound!”

 

Zenyatta turns his faceplate toward the setting sun on the horizon.

 

[Does the query cause discomfort?]

 

“No, my friend. It fills me with joy. The subject is one deserving of great consideration.” A few of the orbs drifting around his neck _ping_ as Zenyatta proceeds to consider. “And you? What are your thoughts?”

 

[Unit experiences uncertainty. Gathering data.]

 

“As are we all. It is a favored subject among people - a commonality between us. I have given love a great deal of thought, myself.”

 

The cry of gulls briefly catches Bastion’s attention. It is nothing like Ganymede’s sweet song.

 

“I believe love is a great many things. It is a feeling, and an expression, and an action, and a state of mind.”

 

[Specify.]

 

Zenyatta laughs. Bastion was not equipped for humor. “Love defies specification as it does quantification. It the feather and the wing. It is as many things as it is not.”

 

Bastion was not equipped for philosophy, either.

 

“Perhaps,” Zenyatta says when Bastion voices this, spreading his hands, palm up. Entreating. “Yet are we not more than the purpose we were built to serve? We think, therefore we are. You were not intended for philosophy, and yet,” he resumes the lotus position, “you ask. We learn and grow, as much as any one person does. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. How fortunate we are to be afforded this choice.”

 

Ganymede appears from behind, landing on Bastion’s shoulder. He hops with tiny click-clicks of claws on metal to stow another branch in the nest he’s building in the crevice of Bastion’s neck.

 

[Request further query.]

 

“Tell me, my friend.”

 

[What are the requirements of love?]

 

“Hmm.” Zenyatta bows his head in thought. It looks like meditation, but the lights on his faceplate are dim. Bastion knows he is not idling. “Love is effort, and effortless,” he finally says. Bastion trills in a fashion that makes Zenyatta laugh again. “The questions you pose possess no one answer. Such is the nature of philosophy. Such is the nature of love.”

 

[Specify.]

 

“To love is not to struggle. Love flows naturally in its many forms, as it comes and goes, for the action and expression of love is selfless. Love bears no ego or discord. Yet, love is cultivation; love is a bond, and bonds must be tended. To love is to nurture, to prosper not as a single self, but as the collective selves.”

 

Zenyatta stops. Turns from the sun toward the watchpoint, just a fraction. Bastion turns too. At the base of the cliff halfway between the complex and cliff’s edge, Shimada Genji walks. His trajectory is a clear path toward Zenyatta and Bastion, and with his nearness, Bastion can read the pleasure radiating off of Zenyatta in waves.

  


“I knew I would find you here,” Genji says. The assertion is trivial; Zenyatta is with Genji more often than he is without, and whether with or without, it is a widely known fact that Zenyatta prefers the quiet contemplation provided where land meets both sea and sky. Shimada Genji speaks for the pleasure of speaking, and Zenyatta listens for the pleasure of listening.

 

[Assertion: Unit Zenyatta teaches through example.]

 

Genji’s systems process the code almost as quickly as Zenyatta’s.

 

“What are you teaching, Master?” he asks, settling at Zenyatta’s feet. Zenyatta inclines his head toward Genji as he once did toward the sun.

 

“Our thoughts lead us to wander the path of love today.”

 

“Ah.” Genji nods. His faceplate turns to Bastion. “You are right. He does teach by example.”

 

“I am not alone in this,” Zenyatta says. A fascinating thing: the tone of Zenyatta’s voice. Simulated warmth, a human mannerism. Regardless of the subject, Zenyatta the unit is consistent in his genuinity, and genuine in his consistency. Zenyatta the soul reads a bias toward Shimada Genji to a degree that is not insignificant. “What are your thoughts on love, Genji?”

 

Bastion is curious about his answer, as well. Of each person Bastion has asked, he is the nearest to human.

 

“Love…” Genji’s gaze returns to Zenyatta. His voice is soft - not an affectation. “That is tricky. Love transcends flesh and blood, does it not? Love is… a thing done. This is a little serious, I think. Love… ah.” He sits up a little straighter, snapping his fingers. “Love is not stealing the covers when you do not need them.”

 

“Love knows forgiveness,” Zenyatta says, turning back toward the sunset. Genji releases a huff of breath. His systems read amusement.

 

“Love knows forgiveness seven nights a week.”

 

“Love is consistency.”

 

“Love suggests finding a second blanket.”

 

“Love is a shared experience.”

 

“And so is a blanket, until it is stolen.”

 

Zenyatta’s orbs fly a little faster, a little higher. “Love can permit certain instances of theft.”

 

“Love has had plenty of time to get used to it."

 

Bastion thinks the metaphor has gotten away with them.

 

Winston called love “complicated” but Bastion does not think it is so. “Complex”, perhaps - the facets many and varied: the touch of a hand; a soft word; an intent to nurture and improve a bond - but it is not convoluted. Defined in this way, Bastion understands love as something both simple and profound.

 

By this definition, Bastion loves Ganymede. Ganymede is a companion and a friend, dear to Bastion first and foremost.

 

Bastion loves Zenyatta, the unit, the soul - his kind words and understanding, how easily he loves and all the thoughts he shares.

 

Bastion loves Shimada Genji, who has come so far to love himself (and this too, Bastion knows); he is not unit, but he is still machine, and he is man, whole, not fractured. The kindness in him blooms like wild roses, tended by the rains of Zenyatta’s great and unconditional love.

 

Bastion loves Bastion, who Bastion is, and who Bastion will become now that the unit understands Love.

 

[Assertion: Gratitude.] Bastion catches Zenyatta’s attention and Genji’s. [Unit’s query: Sufficiently fulfilled.]

 

“Let us speak on the nature of love again,” Zenyatta says, faceplate tipped toward the sky. “It is a balm on the soul in these dissonant times.”

 

“And you, Master,” Genji offers.

 

[Assertion: Agreement.]

**Author's Note:**

> Inquire about fic requests [here!](http://wardencommando.tumblr.com/ask)  
> Tumblr: [wardencommando](http://wardencommando.tumblr.com/).  
> Battle.net ID: byacolate#1589


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